Vacherot Overtakes Fritz in Basel Semifinals
Valentin Vacherot punched his ticket to the championship match by defeating sixth-seeded American Taylor Fritz 7:6 (7-5), 6:3. The 27-year-old from Monte Carlo became the first tennis player from Monaco in the history of the tournament to reach the title match. Vacherot leaned on clutch execution during the opening set tie-break, rallying from a 1-4 deficit to take the frame.
Jiri Lehecka vs Valentin Vacherot — Basel (ATP 500), final.The Basel final pairs the [8] seed Jiri Lehecka, ranked 21, with the unseeded Valentin Vacherot, ranked 31. The two met in the Tokyo semi-finals at the start of October, and the Czech won comfortably.…
Fritz entered the match as the highest-ranked player remaining in the draw, holding severe advantages on his first delivery. Taylor has such a serve that you just have to pray. Sometimes, even if you predict the direction, you can’t even touch the ball. That’s why I’m glad I managed to break him,
Vacherot remarked after the victory. Vacherot closed out the second set by taking the final three games from 3-3.
Lehecka Survives Match Point Against Struff
On the opposite side of the draw, Jiri Lehecka secured a grueling three-set victory over German veteran Jan-Lennard Struff, winning 3:6, 7:5, 6:4 after more than two hours of baseline exchanges. Struff—who previously eliminated Novak Djokovic earlier in the event—held a match point in the second set while leading 3:6, 4:5 before Lehecka engineered a comeback. Wyżej notowany Czech Lehecka reached this stage by defeating retiring Swiss player Stan Wawrinka, German Daniel Altmaier, fellow host representative Jerome Kym, and German Jan-Lennard Struff.
The win marks Lehecka’s ninth career appearance in an ATP Tour final.
| Finalist | Country | Seed | Semifinal Opponent | Semifinal Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valentin Vacherot | Monaco | – | Taylor Fritz | 7:6 (7-5), 6:3 |
| Jiri Lehecka | Czech Republic | 8 | Jan-Lennard Struff | 3:6, 7:5, 6:4 |
Head-to-Head History and Championship Stakes
Prior to that, the Monégasque player claimed a 6:1, 6:3 victory in the second round of the ATP Masters 1000 event in Paris. Lehecka and Vacherot previously faced each other on October 5 in the semifinals of the ATP 500 tournament in Tokyo, where the Czech proved better with a 6:4, 6:2 score before falling to Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz in the title match.
The victor at the Swiss Indoors Basel will collect 500 ranking points alongside a financial prize of 483,300 euros. For Vacherot, a win would add to his past hardware that includes a Masters 1000 title in Shanghai. For Lehecka, a triumph would yield his third career ATP trophy and his first since winning in Brisbane.
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